Henrik Stenson threatens Ernie Els' pedigree

Eyeing victory: Swede Henrik Stenson has reasons to be positive

By Lewine Mair

12:01AM BST 13 Oct 2007

Ernie Els takes on Henrik Stenson while Angel Cabrera plays Hunter Mahan going into today's semi-finals of the HSBC World Matchplay championship at Wentworth. At the same time, the war of words involving Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie is still in full cry.

Els versus Stenson should be a cracking affair. Els has to be the favourite in that he has won six World Matchplay titles at Wentworth. Not only that, but he feels every bit as comfortable as you would expect of one who lives on the West Course and was responsible for its recent redesign.

Yet, where Stenson has two wins under his belt this year, Els has none. Last week in St Andrews he was right there until the 16th where he putted into a bunker. He was still struggling to shrug off that mishap at the start of this week but, as he reminded himself last night: "It's gone and will never come back."

Yesterday Els began with two birdies against Andres Romero and went on to beat the Argentine by the same 6 & 5 margin as he defeated Montgomerie. "I played well when I needed to," said this unassuming soul.

Stenson was round in a morning 64 and four up on an astonished Anders Hansen, who had himself taken no more than 68. It was not until the 184-yard 10th in the afternoon that Hansen found out how to get the better of his opponent. He made a hole-in-one to Stenson's two. That, though, was all a little late in the day and he lost two holes later.

Stenson, a hay-fever victim, had a dip in form over a summer in which one affliction or another, or the medication, had him feeling permanently sleepy. Now the hay fever season is over his confidence is back where it was when he won the Accenture Matchplay title and the Dubai Classic, finishing a shot ahead of Els in the latter.

Cabrera, with his giant drives and strides, beat Paul Casey by 4 & 3 yesterday. Between them, the two were an eclectic 12 under par in the morning. After lunch, Casey had a bad time of it around the turn, taking three putts at the eighth and catching the trench at the ninth. If all that were not enough, he had to watch as Cabrera chipped in for a par at the 10th.

"That's the way it goes and I really hope Angel goes on and wins it now," Casey said. "He's in fine form and he's going to be a tough guy to beat."

Mahan, meanwhile says he is looking forward to taking on Cabrera – and never mind that Cabrera will be out-driving him by the proverbial mile. The American is drawing confidence from his amateur matchplay record. This former US junior champion was also a runner-up in the US Amateur.

Montgomerie was lying low after his defeat on Thursday. However, all three of Bernard Gallacher, Sam Torrance and Ken Brown tore into Faldo for having described the Scot as a poor team member in the Seve Trophy.

Faldo had complained that Montgomerie had attended only two of five meetings and had to be "teased" on to the 18th green to support his team-mates.

Gallacher, captain in 1991, 1993 and 1995, suggested that Faldo should have kept his thoughts to himself. Again, he noted that he never saw Faldo as a "real" team player. "I accepted it because he brought in the points," said Gallacher.

Torrance, the 2002 captain, was still more riled, adding: "If he's even remotely hinting at Monty not being a good team man, it's outrageous."

In a sentiment echoed by Ken Brown, vice-captain to Mark James in 1999, the Scot added that it was not the best thing for a captain to publicly criticise a player.

Thomas Bjorn, the new chairman of the European Tour's tournament committee, however, pitched in on Faldo's side.

"I'll support Nick all the way," the Dane said. "He's the captain and, like it or not, he's going to make the decisions. It's for Nick and Monty to sort this out for themselves."